Inside the Kitchen: Testing Food-Delivery Services Like Blue Apron and More
New services plan your menus for the week and deliver all the ingredients
— -- I love to cook but hate to plan out recipes, and going to the supermarket is like walking into a black hole that eats time.
So, new services that plan your menus for the week and deliver all the ingredients to your doorstep sound like a dream come true. What I discovered is that these services go way beyond convenience; they help you discover new recipes and, in some cases, act like cooking school in your own home.
How They Work
You tell the sites what foods you like and how many people you’re feeding. Each meal costs between $8 and $15 per person. That’s more than you’d pay if you did the shopping yourself, but cheaper than a restaurant and healthier than drive-thru. The meals are not pre-prepared: the ingredients and recipes are delivered and then you do all the chopping and sautéing yourself.
For a period of three weeks I tried some of the biggest and newest services to figure out how they work and whether they are worth the added cost.
Blue Apron, Plated and Hello Fresh are the leaders in the category. They have certain similarities but the big differences are price and flexibility around subscription (see individual listings below).
With most services, a box is delivered weekly by FedEx or a similar shipping company.
The box contains everything you need for your meals, including spices, oils and vinegars. It is bizarre to have fresh fish and meat delivered this way, but everything I tried was fresh and of high-quality. Ingredients are pre-measured and come in tiny plastic bottles and bags. This is incredibly convenient because you don’t have to measure as you cook.
The recipes were all good, healthy food that would appeal to a wide range of palates, including kids. Preparation was easy and no meal took more than 35 minutes.
One note: Because the delivery depends on ice packs, you end up with a lot of these plastic-covered lumps of frozen liquid. The company says they are non-toxic, but they are to be disposed of in the trash, not down the drain. The companies are clearly aware of their recycling issues and have instructions on their blogs about how to reuse and recycle their packaging materials.
Cost: $10/person per meal.
Subscription: 3 meals per week ($60 for 2 people, $120 for 4 people).
Delivery Area: East of the Mississippi and west of the Rockies. Click HERE for a map.
Meal I Tried: Stuffed Peppers with Rice
Blue Apron delivers a box (or boxes) to your doorstep once a week. Their menu is fixed (no substitutions) based on your dietary preferences (any meat, no red meat, fish and eggs only, vegetarian). Sample menus here.
The fixed menu was a bit of an issue - there was a dish with Spanish rice and I still have bad memories of that dish from my grade-school cafeteria - but the prices were outstanding and the food was fresh.
Cost: $12 a plate (Based on a weekly subscription).
Meal I Tried: Grilled Hanger Steak with Glazed Carrots
Delivery Area: Ships to 95% of the population, reaching all the lower 48 states; Check your zip code here.
